The world's record-breaking airports

Most international passengers – London's Heathrow has more international passengers than any other airport, according to Guinness World Records, with 67.3 million in 2013.

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World's closest airports – Holding the record for the world's closest airports are the gateways to Papa Westray and Westray, neighboring islands in the Scottish Orkneys. A flight between the two takes an average of 96 seconds (2 minutes if you include taxiing time).

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World's busiest airport – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport holds two records, according to Guinness World Records. It is the busiest airport in the world in terms of the number of aircraft taking off and landing -- 924,000 in 2011 -- and also has the most passengers traveling through -- more than 94.4 million last year.

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World's shortest runway – The world's shortest commercially serviceable runway is at Juancho E.Yrausquin Airport on the island of Saba, Netherlands Antilles, in the Caribbean. The runway is just 396 meters (1,300 feet) in length; most aircraft carriers are only slightly longer than this.

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Highest airport in the world – The world's highest airport sits at 14,219 feet above sea level. Surrounded by mountains, Qamdo Bangda Airport in Tibet operates a scheduled airline service but requires an extra-long runway (13,794 feet) to accommodate the extended stopping distance caused by the lack of atmospheric resistance at that altitude.

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Largest airport building – The world's largest airport building is in Dubai. First opened in 2008, the airport is now the busiest in the Middle East and 7th busiest in the world. Last year, it greeted 66.4 million passengers.

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Busiest cargo airport – At a reported $20 billion, Hong Kong International Airport is one of the most expensive airport construction projects. It is also the world's busiest airport for cargo (freight and mail) and international freight (excluding mail).

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World's most isolated airport – Mataveri International Airport on Easter Island is the world's most isolated airport, situated a remote 3,759 km from the nearest city -- Santiago, Chile.

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Story highlights

A record 137,000 people departed from Heathrow on August 13

Here are some of the world's record-breaking airports

London Heathrow, the world's busiest airport in terms of international passengers, has just celebrated its busiest day ever, with 137,000 people departing from the airport on August 13.

But it's not the only airport in the world to boast impressive numbers. Here, we've enlisted the help of the world authority on superlative achievements -- Guinness World Records -- to compile a gallery of record-breaking airports from across the globe.